Olympic Games: Bronze for Lotte Kopecky
At the end of a road race that was anyone's game right up to the finish, the Belgian cyclist took third place by the narrowest of margins.
Just one day after Remco Evenepoel's win in the men's race, Belgium secured another medal in road cycling.
At the Tokyo Olympics three years ago, the 28-year-old from Antwerp finished an unfortunate 4th in the road race, behind Austria's Anna Kiesenhofer, the Netherlands' Annemiek van Vleuten and Italy's Elisa Longo Borghini. And the cyclist was very close to seeing history repeat itself and once again falling just short of the podium.
Indeed, just as the attacks were beginning to mount up, with less than 50km to go, there was a crash on the course and Lotte Kopecky found herself severely delayed. This forced her to make a huge effort to catch up with the leading group a few kilometres later. An expenditure of energy that could have proved decisive in the final kilometres of the race, when just four competitors were left fighting for a place on the podium.
The Belgian didn't have the strength to respond to American Faulkner's final attack with three kilometres to go. The US cyclist took a solo victory, and the other two medals were decided in the final sprint of the race.
The three athletes were literally neck and neck when they crossed the line, and were separated by a photo finish, with Dutch cyclist Vos taking silver and Kopecky bronze, leaving Hungary's Vas just short of the podium.
We salute this fine performance by Belgium's Lotte Kopecky, who will have another opportunity to fight for a medal in the track cycling events.